This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Saturday, 6 October 2012

Marriage of Minors in Islam

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ
ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is taken from Marriage of Minors
in Islam by Shaykh ‘Ali Juma’ah.

A recent troubling trend on the rise in Egypt
and elsewhere has been the number of marriages of girls under the age of
minority, in contravention of recent Egyptian laws aimed at protecting children
by stipulating that marriages of brides under the age of 18 are not to be
solemnised. A number of cases have
recently presented themselves of young girls being put on display, so that rich
older men may choose from among them for purposes of marriage, often a
temporary marriage, the parents of the girls being compensated financially as
if this were simply an exchange of commodities. This is a dangerous and troubling phenomenon,
betraying the meaning of the Islamic conception of marriage.

Marriage is a sacred institution in Islam,
based on love, mercy, and mutual respect. The sorts of arrangements mentioned above fail
to live up to these ideals, and worse, compromise the dignity and humanity of
young girls, treating them as slaves or chattel to be bought and sold. And this all for the sake of a suspect
marriage disguising mere licentiousness, and more often than not leaving the
marital rights of the girl unfulfilled. This
is not a marriage worthy of the name, but rather a clear case of sexual
exploitation which must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

One of the most basic principles of Islamic law
is the Prophetic command to neither inflict nor accept harm. Such deplorable cases not only cause
individual harm to the young girl, but inflict harm also on the societal level.
Islam has always sought to work for the
welfare of the vulnerable and marginalized. When one considers minors, it is noteworthy to
point out that the shari‘ah has given
them full legal capacity over their economic assets. And in cases where there has been a legal
guardian appointed, he or she is duty-bound to dispose of the minor’s wealth
only in ways that safeguard and advance the latter’s welfare. It is of course
evident, therefore, that the minor’s welfare should be a primary concern in a
matter as serious as marriage, for one’s honor is certainly more sacred than
one’s wealth.

The jurists of Islam have long held that the
values of love, mercy and mutual respect between the spouses can be best realised
through considerations of compatibility between the two spouses. Many of them have deemed compatibility not
simply a preference but rather a central value of the shari’ah to be sought in all cases; indeed, a condition of the
validity of an Islamic marriage.

The jurists have agreed that an extreme age
difference is an important example of incompatibility. This is no small matter, for a father that
fails to take such incompatibility into account is one who has lost his
standing as a trustworthy and upstanding member of the community. And the jurists have stipulated that this
standing is a requisite for his legal agency over his young daughter’s affairs.
There is no doubt that a man who engages
in such sexual exploitation, and puts his daughter in such a precarious and
dangerous situation, can in no way be considered a legitimate representative
looking after her well-being and interests. Rather, he has not even fulfilled the least of
his responsibility towards his humanity. As such, he forfeits his right to represent
his daughter.

Based on this reasoning, my position on this
phenomenon has been to call for the criminalisation of this sort of behavior,
and the punishment of those who partake in it – be they parents of the girl, or
intermediaries. Further, we must work to
establish the true meaning of an Islamic marriage in our society, and restore
the dignity and humanity of all members of our community.